Requirements
Literature Review
The literature review should contain at least 20 papers from academic, peer-reviewed journals and one reference book (not a textbook)
Data sources and analysis
As part of your master thesis, you will be required to provide empirical evidence relevant to your chosen research question. Your evidence should be meaningful – readers should be convinced of its relevance and probity. The guidelines below will enable you to develop meaningful empirical analysis according to your chosen method of analysis.
Data type
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Number of observations
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Data analysis
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Individual interviews
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Minimum 8
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Recorded and fully transcribed. Analyzed using a recognized method (eg. content analysis using an analysis grid).
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Group interviews
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Minimum 2
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Recorded and fully transcribed. Analyzed using a recognized method (eg. content analysis using an analysis grid).
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Netnography
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The equivalent of at least 80 pages transcribed into standard A4 format.
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Analyzed using a recognized method (eg. content analysis using an analysis grid).
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Case study
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Secondary data (press, other media, company documents) AND at least 5 interviews.
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Analysis using a recognized method (eg. content analysis using an analysis grid). Interviews recorded and fully transcribed.
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Surveys (questionnaires)
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At least 100 usable responses.
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Analysis should not be limited to descriptive statistics. Provide proper statistical or econometric analyses with significance tests. Include control variables where appropriate.
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Experiments
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At least 25 participants per group
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Analysis should not be limited to descriptive statistics. Provide proper statistical or econometric analyses with significance tests. Include control variables where appropriate.
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Secondary databases with additional hand collected data
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At least 100 usable observations
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Analysis should not be limited to descriptive statistics. Provide proper statistical or econometric analyses with significance tests. Include control variables where appropriate.
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Secondary databases without additional hand-collected data
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At least 200 usable observations.
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Analysis should not be limited to descriptive statistics. Provide proper statistical or econometric analyses with significance tests. Include control variables where appropriate.
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In some cases, your research question may be atypical so your methodological approach might not fit the items in the grid above. In that case, you can consult your supervisor who will advise you on finding an appropriate amount of data, and analysis techniques which are equivalent in quantity and quality to those listed above.
Some MSc programs require master theses which meet the standards imposed by practitioner organizations. In that case, your program manager will provide you with suitable data and analysis requirements.
Final document
The final master thesis should be a minimum of 50 pages in length, excluding appendices. Note that the document should contain a reasonable amount of text and should not be a mass of tables, graphs and figures. The master thesis should be formatted in Times New Roman 12 (or equivalent) with 1.5 line spacing and 2.5cm margins. Text should be justified. In text-references and the bibliography should use the Harvard system of referencing.
The project includes the following materials and sections, in the sequence indicated (see details in appendix 1):
-Title page
-Keywords and abstract (150 words) in English
-Preface and/or dedication and/or acknowledgments
-Table of contents
-Executive summary (2 or 3 pages)
-List of tables
-List of figures
– Body of text
-Reference list
-Appendix or appendices (if any)
The final document should include an introduction and a conclusion of at least 2 pages in length each.
APPENDIX 1 – DETAILS OF MASTER THESIS ORGANISATION
- Keywords and abstract
Along with the report students should also submit a one-page abstract containing the following information:
- Year:
- FIRST NAME (Given name)
- FAMILY NAME
- NATIONALITY
- Title
- Keywords: (Up to ten keywords)
- Supervisor:
- Sponsoring organization and contact person (if applicable)
- Title page
The title page should conform to the appropriate format as specified the document provided on the Knowledge platform. The title and subtitle must be exact as previously approved.
- Preface
The preface is used primarily to mention matters of background necessary for an understanding of the subject that does not logically fit into the text. It is customary to include a brief expression of the author’s appreciation of help and guidance received in the research. The preface is not the same as an introduction, which is a part of the main body of the thesis.
- Table of contents
The table of contents contains the headings and subheadings of the chapters and sections of the thesis with the numbers of the pages on which these chapters and sections begin.
All headings should correspond exactly in wording, arrangement, punctuation, and capitalization with the headings as they appear in the body of the dissertation.
The number of the page on which the division begins in the text of the thesis is given in the table of contents. Double spacing is used except for over-run lines, which are single-spaced. For an example of the layout see 2b.
- Executive summary
After writing up the final draft you need to write an executive summary which should be placed up front, just after the table of contents. In this summary you have to summarize the whole report; problem, method and findings. This summary should not exceed 3 pages.
- List of tables, figures
If the report contains charts, figures, maps, tables, photographs, or other types of material, each series of these should be listed separately in an appropriate list on the page or pages immediately following the table of contents. Each such list should appear on a separate page. In format, such lists should follow the general style of the table contents. Tables, figures, etc. should be numbered according to their chapter and position in the chapter. Thus figure 2.10 is the tenth figure in chapter two.
- Body of the text
The report properly begins with the first page of the first chapter section. Each chapter or section should represent an important division of the thesis. Each chapter should have a title identifying the subject contained therein. Typically, a thesis contains the following chapters:
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Methodology
- Results
- Discussion and Implications
- References
The References section should typically contain only the works consulted and found relevant and thus cited by the author in the report. The inclusion of an irrelevant item is as much a defect as the exclusion of a relevant one. Each item should be a full reference in the standard order specified in Appendix 2c of these notes. All references should be listed in alphabetical order (and numerical order for several references of the same author).
- Appendices
The main purpose of an appendix is to keep the text of the report from being interrupted or cluttered with supplementary, minor and illustrative materials. The text of pertinent documents, very lengthy quotations, excerpts from diaries, transcripts of minutes, forms of documents, copies of sample questionnaires, and the like, may be included as appendices if they are pertinent to the subject matter of the dissertation and they cannot appropriately be incorporated into the body of the text. Appendices should appear immediately following the body of the text. Each appendix should start on a separate page. Appendices should be designated sequentially as I, Appendix II, etc. and they should appear in the order that they are referred to in the text. Whenever possible and appropriate, the source of material in the appendix should be given.
- References
When referring in the text of the research project to items in the bibliography the author’s name and the date of publication should be cited:
e.g. “Surveys conducted by Smith (1988) showed ….”
or “A recent study (Smith, 1988, p. 17), has shown …”